Not-Red Velvet Cupcakes

I was sitting around this past Sunday. Minding my own business. I was being lazy until Sister K came over and convinced me that we should do some baking. The idea was not appealing to me at the time because all I wanted to do was take a nap but I got up and we went to the store to buy the ingredients we were missing. Why? Well because a few weeks ago we had talked about doing a once a month baking session. So far I am already behind on schedule as I've missed the January deadline. I know I am pretty pathetic for not even trying to find some time to bake once a month.

Turned out to be a good decision because I've forgotten how much fun it is to bake...especially with my sisters! Thanks for your help the two Sister Ks.

I am obsessive when it comes to baking. Especially cupcake baking. I normally feel defeated and unhappy when my baked goods doesn't come out looking/tasting the way I had expected. I have a semi-long history with trying to bake a good red velvet cupcake. I've attempted many times but have never been happy with it. Recently I was doing some research and landed on this post which did a comparison of a few red velvet cupcake recipes. I decided that since the Pastry Queen's recipe fared so well in this comparison that I would test it out.

I didn't have Cake Flour in the house so this was an item I had to go to the store to get. Now I have a big box of it so I will need to make more cupcakes. Right? Of course.

Then my helpers (Fourth and Fifth Sister Ks) did all the measuring while I mixed everything together. It was like having baking elves. It was fabulous! I wish baking was always like this. :)

Sifting. Oh so much sifting went on. I thought it would never end. Poor Fourth Sister K.

Mixing.

Measuring of the wet ingredients. This was Fifth Sister K's job. Good job!

More mixing. It mostly all stayed in the bowl but I smell like chocolate and flour now.

This batter looks and tastes just like chocolate mousse.

Then it was baking time.

Frosting was made while waiting for the baking to be done.

After the cupcakes chilled out for a bit. They were frosted.

This frosting recipe is terrific! It had a wonderful consistency that allowed me to frost to my heart's content.

Oh and they are NOT red in color because I decided to leave it out. The red dye scares me a little bit. So instead we subbed in the same amount of water. I had a few family members taste them and they informed me that the cake was too dense. Almost too heavy. I am wondering if the subbing of water for the food coloring had anything to do with that. One person also mentioned that it was dry and could have been a bit more oily. Looks like it is back to the drawing board.